Sales Management Trainee Program Week 1

We are the 2015 Sales Management Trainees and just completed our first week of the cohort! We have been learning a ton, hearing from a number of the company’s leaders, have gotten to go on some really cool immersions, and have had a really busy, but equally fun, week.

We had a kick-off lunch on Sunday before our first day with the University Relations team. This allowed the trainees to get to know our leaders and the other trainees who we were going to be spending the next five weeks together. We even received our very own, “Welcome to the Heinz Family” ketchup bottles!

On Monday, we got to check out the Heinz History Center. Here we saw everything from different packages that Heinz products were packaged in over the years to videos about the company and much, much more! The picture below is our cohort in front of a giant ketchup bottle that is made from multiple individual ketchup bottles – it was very cool!

Throughout the week, we also got a chance to experience shopping and dining out like a real consumer, who was on a budget and had certain health restrictions that may make grocery shopping or dining a little harder, but real life situations that consumers encounter every day. We had to work as a team to come up with a week’s worth of meal plans within our budget and also dine out at a restaurant within our budget. It really gave us the chance to work as a team and go out into the actual field to see how consumers really shop.

This is just a highlight of some of the fun, work, and social activities that we have had the chance to do in our little time at Heinz and we cannot wait to see what else we have planned ahead for us during our time here in Pittsburgh!